Boat People in Asia
Get Little Sympathy

By

Barry Wain

Updated April 29, 1996 5:20 a.m. ET

HONG KONG--It started spontaneously as a panic reaction to an imminent communist takeover, and it gradually turned into a more deliberate flight to freedom and a better life. It is now ending as unhappily as it began.

A million or more Vietnamese left their country by boat over the past 21 years, most finding new homes in the West, principally the U.S., Australia and Canada. The remaining 34,000 languishing today at half a dozen spots...